Jazz Articles

Brenda Hopkins Miranda: Simple

by James Nadal
May 4, 2012

The piano thoroughly lends itself to the emotional manifestations of the consummate and contemplative Brenda Hopkins Miranda. Simple channels her profound individuality, drawn from a private source of focused consciousness and performed with genuine grace and elegance.As a composer and producer, Hopkins Miranda is well-honed, and she is attuned to the album concept, as luminously displayed on Recuerdos de Granada/Memoirs from Granada (Zona Boricua, 2009) and its repertoire, drawn from her Spanish sojourn. This time around, she is ...

Brenda Hopkins Miranda: Recuerdos de Granada / Memoirs of Granada

by James Nadal
December 14, 2009

Pianist Brenda Hopkins Miranda did not go to Spain to record an album. She went to study ethnomusicology in the city of Granada, and in the ensuing two years was drawn into the tablao or flamenco dance culture of the city. From listening to the opening flairs of Recuerdos de Granada/Memoirs of Granada it would be a logical assumption that the music chose her. The results of that encounter are heard in this recording.

The music on the record is ...